You Break It, You Buy It {Romanogers}

16

Natasha's POV

"Hey, everyone," Pepper stood in front of the class. "So, in order to raise money for the next school event, the student board came up with a new fundraiser. We're going to be organizing a kissing both three weeks from now, and we need the student body to vote on candidates, five males and five females, to be our kissers. Whoever gets the most votes submitted two weeks from now will be the ones at the booths, and for five dollars, anyone can take their turn kissing them. It will last for a week and a half, and anyone can kiss the candidates during lunch in the arcade hallway. Your votes can be placed in the main office starting today after school. Thanks, um... any questions?"

Tony raised his hand and Pepper pointed at him. "How much time is being allowed for each kiss, and may we be with multiple kissers at once?"

"You know, Tony, I think that question would be better answered by Rhodey," Pepper smiled sweetly while shooting daggers into Tony's head. Pepper took her seat again, and Professor Selvig resumed talking about the study guide for our review quiz, and I took notes until I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I checked it and saw a message from Sharon.

Sharon: if u use this kissing booth as an excuse to kiss steve, there will be consequences.

I looked up and saw her staring straight at me, so I just nodded slightly, and managed to ignore her gaze until the bell rang and we were excused from class. 

The day passed by quickly and before I knew it, Algebra 2 was ending and it was time for French. I walked with Maria for as long as I could before we had to part ways so she could go to Home Ec. Once she had to leave, I walked with Steve in a mostly comfortable silence. He wasn't saying anything, and I wasn't sure if he wanted me to talk.

"You seem nervous," He spoke up first. "That's not really like you."

"No, just thinking." Which was true. I was thinking about Sharon, and how she kept coming after me, even though she had Steve.

"About?"

"How high school is surprisingly accurate to any chick flick where the popular girl makes the new girl's life hell."

"Oh, do those chick flicks also include the part where you make the guy who has a crush on you date the popular girl in order to get said popular girl off your back?" He asked playfully.

"No, but that do include stereotypical jocks that the popular girl and new girl fall for, and you seem to fit they criteria."

"Yeah? Who does he end up choosing?"

"I don't know. I could never make it that far into the movie." He looked at me and I opened the door to French, sitting down in my usual seat.

The bell rang, and our teacher stood, looking slightly irritable. "Bonjour classe, j'ai mal à la tête aujourd'hui, donc je ne peux pas t'apprendre. pour la période, veuillez discuter des devoirs d'hier soir en français pour la période."

Everyone muttered confusedly and Steve translated for the class, "She has a headache, talk in French for the rest of the period." The class began to split up into small groups and talk and I looked around absentmindedly. Steve tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around. "Hey, so I was thinking maybe you and I could work on the algebra homework right now."

"Yeah, sounds good," I pulled my notebook out. He got out his textbook and we started to work and finished in good time. 

"Hey, I need to talk to you about something," He said once we put our algebra stuff away.

"Oh yeah, sure, but is it okay if I run to the bathroom really quick?" I asked. 

"Yeah, go ahead," He said. I walked to the front of the class and grabbed the bathroom pass. I walked down the hall and went to the bathroom. I washed my hands and then felt my back pocket for my phone. Realizing it probably fell out, I walked quickly back to the classroom and opened the door. I sat down and saw Steve's face.

"Steve? What happened?"

He held my phone up and showed me a new message from Sharon. 

Sharon: i know you didnt respond cuz u know ur guilty. keep this up and you'll be sorry

"That's not what it looks like," I said immediately.

"Really? Because it looks like she's black mailing you with your dad's suicide to make sure you stay away from me."

"She's just insecure, Steve, I don't mind."

"And this has been going on for weeks now? She's just been cyberbullying you?" Steve scrolled through our messages.

"That's not fair, Steve, and plus she has a point, you and I have been doing something behind her back!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Steve said. 

"But she thinks she is," I said exasperatedly. "God, Steve, this isn't what I wanted, I didn't want to cause this type of trouble. 

"You're not the problem here." The bell rang and he picked up his stuff quickly.

"Steve." I tried to get him to look at me but he stormed out of the classroom. He had left my phone on his table and I picked it up, calling Maria. She picked up and I said, "Hey, can you get the other girls and get them to meet me at the bleachers on the football field? I need to talk to you guys."

"Yeah, see you soon." Maria hung up and I grabbed my bag, making my way quickly to the bleachers. Once I was there, I sat down and rubbed my forehead. I saw the others approaching and I stood, waving them over. They jogged over and Maria asked, "What's up?"

I pulled out my phone and opened my message history with Sharon, handing my phone to Carol to show to everyone else. Immediately she said, "Where is she, because clearly I need to kick her nonexistent ass."

"No, that's exactly how Steve reacted. I went to the bathroom during French, and my phone fell out of my pocket. Sharon had just sent me a message, and Steve saw it, an--"

"Steve saw it? That's not good," Wanda said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because Steve is one of the nicest, most generous people we know, besides his borderline ridiculous sense of humor. But he's got a crazy temper when it comes to protecting his friends. He lashes out hard, and it takes him a while to come back to earth," Maria explained. "The only person that's ever been able to calm him down was Peggy." 

"Great. After he saw the messages, he stormed out of French, and I don't know what he's going to do," I said honestly. "I've never seen him so aggravated." 

"My guess? He's going to talk to Sharon about it, or go to his guy friends to rant, and get payback advice from Tony."

"Alright, well I'm going to call Bucky and see if he's seen Steve." 

"Bucky's going to be at football, so Steve should be, too. Speaking of which, I see them huddling, I should go," Carol got up and grabbed her bag. "Bye! Good luck Natasha!" She called over her shoulder as she sprinted across the field. 

I felt my pockets for my phone and realized Carol still had it. I looked up and saw her waving it at me before tossing it to Steve. "Oh, Steve, you son of a bitch."